“Looks good Louis,” I say, tidying up the stack of papers my tour director has given me. “I’m amazed at how quickly you’ve been able to find guides for each of these.”
“Well, we will see,” he says cautiously. “There’s a lot that can be hidden on an interview.”
In all our years of business together, the man has never spoken hopefully about anything. It’s a good thing to have in a partner, someone who can see the downsides and prepare accordingly. Even though I’m the founder of Adrenaline Adventures, I took Louis on as a minor partner once I realized just how good he was with the organizational aspects of the business. It takes a detailed mind to orchestrate and keep an eye on our offering of fifteen individual tours all over the North American continent. And soon we will be going international. It’s been a move I’ve thought about now for years, and in just two months, we will launch our first offerings for Europe and SE Asia, just in time for families and college students booking summer trips.
“True enough, but we will have a dry run of sorts before the first trip to make sure everything is ironed out. And you’ll be going on these trips yourself, correct?”
“That’s right,” he says.
“Then I’m confident we will be fine,” I reply. “Anything else that you want to go over before I head out?”
“We have the meeting on Monday with the web developers for our new website.”
“About that,” I say, lifting a finger. “I’ve managed to secure a new nanny. She’s supposedly brilliant with children, and she’s willing to start immediately.”
Louis looks taken aback.
“Who?”
“A girl called Penny. Got her number from Tim down in accounting. She’s out of high school, and she’s got an up to date first aid certification, and she’s babysat for Tim’s kid’s a few times last year, so it’s not like she’s a complete unknown. I’ll still do an interview, and a dry run to see if she’s good with the girls, but I think it should work.”
I brush off the doubtful look he gives me.
“I’m sure it will be fine. If not, she will do for the week or so it takes for the agency to send me a replacement.”
Amelia and Amanda’s nanny’s mother recently had a heart attack and she had to fly home immediately to take care of her. Unfortunately, as the only child, there was nobody else who could step in, and so she had to quit. It’s too bad really. I finally had someone who knew how things were done, and as far as I could tell the children had accepted her. It would be hard for them to make another change. I loathed it actually, seeing as how just a few months ago, they were with their mother. My ex-wife may not have taken her marital vows seriously, but she was a decent parent. I’m guilty of having laid more of the childcare on her than I should have. Building up Adrenaline Adventures from scratch has cost me every spare moment these past few years. In fact, until just recently, I myself had to take on tour guide responsibilities we were growing so fast.
I stand up from my desk, glancing down at my watch. It read three o’ clock. I better get going. They’re with my mom right now. She’s in a wheelchair, so I prefer not to have to leave them with her for too long, especially when her day nurse has left. If anything were to happen, my mother wouldn’t be able to drive them to the hospital. In fact, I should probably hurry.
“Monday then,” I confirm with Louis as he turns to leave my office.
I pull my coat from the back of my chair and slip it on. The ultra-light parka has seen me through more hikes and camping trips than I could count. In fact, it features in almost every photo I’ve taken and put up in this office. The one I always focus on is the picture from our first successful trip. I had been working as a tour guide myself, a young father who wasn’t ready to give up the life of adventure when I started the business. There were more than a few mistakes made during that trip, though thankfully none that the campers were aware of. Back then I did everything, from the bookings to the organizing to the tour guide aspect itself. It was a trip to Lake Tahoe, nothing spectacular. I’ve been up to the area myself when I was a kid almost every other summer, and I knew the place like the back of my hand. We lost money that trip, but I was hooked by how happy and excited my campers were that I knew I was onto something.
And we were. We had come just on the cusp of something big, when people wanted trips that were authentic, but didn’t have to handle all the stress of the day to day. That took them off the beaten track without worrying that they would get lost forever. That explained the history of their destinations and showed them well, adventure and adrenaline too. In just four years we’ve jumped from one tour to fifteen, and now we were about to double it again to 33 with the inclusion of European biking and hiking tours, and the beaches of SE Asia.
If only I could go lead one of these tours again… I let myself think for a moment before I slam the door on the rest of the thought. I have two daughters living with me now, and I can’t just up and abandon them now. I did that often enough when they were growing up, and after the divorce, it was easy to let them slip further away with Adrenaline Adventures as my excuse. I’m paying for that now though, and there’s no way I would do it again. The girls have enough upheaval as it is. I have six months to try and salvage our relationship, and damnit if I’m going to let anything get in the way this time. My daughters deserve to know that they come first in their father’s eyes now.
Fishing my keys out of my pocket, I stride out of our office. We have two customer service representatives working to help take in reservations, answer questions online, and provide assistance should our tour guides need it. Since it’s still early, we only have a few short spring break tours. Soon that will change.
The office is only a short drive away from my mother’s apartment. She moved to Richmond a year ago when her ALS progressed to the point that she needed more intensive care. I felt better knowing that she was closer, and helped her move closer. She lives only five minutes away, and I normally wouldn’t ask her to take the girls, but at eleven Amelia should know better than to make trouble for grandma. She and I butt heads all the time at the moment, but she’s a good girl at heart, I know that, and she would never intentionally do anything to trouble her grandmother.
I pull up in front of my mother’s unit. The apartment building is made up of three stories, and she lives on the first level. I’d prefer for her to live with me, but the steep hill and distance from the bus stop makes this location better for her. My mother may not be as mobile, but she’s social, and within a month of moving, she found herself a book club and a church to go to. I get my determination from her.
Clicking the locks shut on my BMW, I walk over to the door and knock. Immediately it opens and Amanda flings herself into my arms. She’s got delicate features and long, blonde hair. ‘Rapunzel hair’ as she proudly calls it.
“Daddy!” she cries happily. “We ate chocolate pancakes for lunch!”
I hug my youngest daughter and smile over her shoulder at grandma.
“I hope there were some veggies and fruits to counteract all that sugar?”
“Uh huh,” she says, nodding solemnly. “Grandma made us strawberry milkshakes. Strawberry’s a fruit.”
“I suppose it is,” I say, amused.
“Were you guys good for grandma?”
“The best. We didn’t make any trouble.”
I search the living room and find Amelia on the couch, her eyes fixed on the T.V. I’m not surprised in the least that she hasn’t come up to say hello. The truth is, she’s happier with her mother, and she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t go along for my ex-wife’s worldwide book tour. She’s always been a mildly successful young adult author, but ever since her books were made into movies, she’s shot into stardom, something that she’s always wanted. She even managed to finagle her way into one of the roles in the latest movie. Unfortunately, that’s meant that she’s had less and less time for our daughters. Having been abandoned it seems by first her dad, and now her mother, Amelia has justifiably been angry for the past few months. I don’t blame her for it, not in the least. If anything, I feel guilty every time I see her.
A tug on my arm brings me back to Amanda. At least she’s forgiven me.
“Do we have to go now?” she asks. “Cause grandma and I made cookies, and they’re still chilling in the fridge.”
“I wasn’t sure when you would be done, and I know you mentioned your meeting might run long,” grandma says, folding her hands over her lap.
“Well, we can’t perfectly good cookies go unbaked,” I say very seriously. “I guess we’ll just have to stay for a while longer.”
“Good!” Amanda says. She pulls my arm, pulling me into the apartment and onto the sofa. “We can watch more Luna Petunia.”
We settle down onto the couch, Amanda in between me and her sister. The show is a psychedelic mix of bright pink, blue and lime green. I’ve practically memorized every episode by now, but Amanda never seems to get bored of it. I throw Amelia a smile, but she hops up from the couch instead.
“I’m bored of it,” she says. “Let’s play Rummy grandma.”
My mom throws me an apologetic look before wheeling over to the kitchen table. Amanda looks up with a worried expression.
“Don’t worry,” she says anxiously. “Amelia still loves you daddy.”
“Of course she does.”
“And you love her right?” Ah, so that’s what’s worrying her.
I give her a big squeeze.
“Absolutely. I’ll always love the two of you, no matter what.”
My words seem to soothe her, and she turns back to the screen.
If only it could be as easy as saying a few words to fix this with Amelia. If only.